Forest Hills — Jon Greenhoe had a plan: to see the opening ceremonies at the 2024 Paris Olympics. And that he did — albeit at a short distance.
Greenhoe, a 2002 Central High graduate, was at the summer games — from July 26 to Aug. 11 — as part of the commentary teams of the Olympic Broadcasting Services at the competition venues Champ de Mars for judo and the Eiffel Tower Stadium for beach volleyball. OBS is the host broadcasting company that builds that infrastructure for the entire Olympic Games.
At around 5 p.m. on July 26, he left his hotel with a camera in hand, determined to see the opening ceremonies that were to take place along the Seine River.
“I was immediately swept up in a ‘Parisian pilgrimage,’” as he called it, and said all he could do was follow the crowd.
It did not take long for Greenhoe, like many others, to learn that without the right credentials or a ticket, chances of getting close to the river were slim.
“Come to find out the bar in our hotel was offering a viewing party. … We all watched it in the bar, because that was the safest and easiest place. So that’s my opening ceremony story: that we just watched it in a bar and unfortunately, we found out later that (due to rain) it was the driest place to be.”
Career Exploration Started Early
For Greenhoe, a stay-at-home dad who now lives on the northeast side of Indianapolis, Indiana, the Olympics was his “comeback tour, business vacation and fodder for wild stories, all in one month.”
It was through a class called Video Tech Time created by teacher Charlie Vonk that Greenhoe said his interest in videography began in eighth grade. During a recent Kent ISD Your Dream is Our Dream podcast, Greenhoe recalled he went on in high school to become known as the “video guy,” doing morning announcements and producing a video for his senior class.
Vonk marveled during the podcast that his class could spark such a passion as it did for Greenhoe: “… it’s just blossomed into ‘What a career, what a story, what a journey.’”
After high school, Greenhoe headed to Kentucky’s Asbury University, where he earned a bachelor’s degree in media communications and then a master’s in broadcast and cinematic arts from Central Michigan University.
Since 1984, Asbury University has sent around 600 students to work in both paid and unpaid media positions at the Olympics. It was because of that connection that Greenhoe had the opportunity to work as a student in 2004 when the Games were hosted in Athens, Greece.
“So that was 20 years ago,” Greenhoe said. “When (a medal) went to a hometown hero, the crowd (was) louder. They bring the flags and stuff, but every once in a while, the crowd (would) just break out in a national song … and so it’s very impressive just to hear.”
That first experience spurred him to respond to an OBS ad for the Paris Olympics. Before then, he worked for numerous media organizations, including WOOD TV8, and taught at Indiana University of Indianapolis.
His Take-Away: Learn a Second Language
Greenhoe arrived in Paris on July 16 and left the day after events finished. While there to work, he said, his schedule gave him time to explore the City of Light.
“This was not a normal Paris,” Greenhoe said. “This was an Olympic Paris: There were venues that are not normally here. There are restrictions that are not normally here, buildings and monuments are closed on unusual days, because it is not normal.”
Greenhoe said since the Olympics were so much a part of the city, it created challenges at times, in that suddenly a road was restricted or a building closed due to the Games. Even with those challenges, Greenhoe was able to visit many famous sites such as the Louvre, the Eiffel Tower and Napoleon’s tomb.
Greenhoe has advice for Rangers, Hawks or Huskies interested in taking such a twice-in-a-lifetime opportunity: Recognize the importance of learning another language and develop strong people skills.
“You realize very quickly that if you don’t know the language, or don’t have a co-worker who can help translate … gaps are a problem,” he said. While he was a “B” Spanish student in high school, and although French is similar linguistically, he said knowing another language would have made his work easier, as it’s mostly about interacting with people.
“There’s a lot of thumbs up, thumbs down, shaking of hands, hand gestures to try to make a point, but the value of linguistics is so apparent when you’re in this type of situation,” he said.
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